Editor’s note: In Jan. 2023, Lester Landry, an advocate in this story, was arrested in Medicine Hat. Read the latest update here: shorturl.at/mwBFG . It’s estimated more than 4 in 10 Canadians living in poverty are people with disabilities, and provincial support rates are so low, advocates call it “legislated poverty.” Then, last year, the federal government expanded eligibility for medically assisted dying to people who were not terminally ill, something critics warned could result in unnecessary deaths. As Marianne Dimain reports for The New Reality, many disabled Canadians who now qualify for that program say it’s the only way they can see an escape from the cycle of pain and poverty.
- Nova Scotia advocates push for voluntary vulnerable persons registry for emergencies
- How poverty, not pain, is driving Canadians with disabilities to consider medically-assisted death